Employers, Employees and Independent Contr. – Who Owns the Copyright?
Whether an individual is labeled an “employee” or an “independent contractor” may not carry much weight in determining the outcome of a legal dispute over copyrights. What’s crucial to such arguments is the nature of the working relationship, not the label. To avoid the costs that often accompany such wrangling, it’s best to establish copyright ownership before a project gets off the ground.
I am often intellectual property between companies and independent contractors who work for businesses. Often the disputes involve trying to determine who holds the copyright on the documents developed during his employment. If you are an employer or employee, failing to know their rights regarding copyright can be a costly mistake.
Companies often have problems falling into the trap of assuming that whatever their own employees or contractors to complete the production. Instead, contractors and employees to sign agreements for the transfer of copyright to the employer.
Nature of Relationship
The first question is whether the person who creates copyright is a contractor or employee. This is a crucial issue, because if the person is an employee and the equipment has been created within the framework of regular employment, and employers have important rights to the material in question.
For example, if a company hires someone whose job is to write the updates or create graphics for the website of the company, the company has published material on the site. In short, the employer owns the copyright in general material created by employees. In such situations, the law considers a company to be the author and not the employee.
Is more complex, however, with independent contractors. An independent is someone who works for a company, but is not fully integrated into society as an employee. In the United States and Canada to determine if someone is an independent contractor or employee depends on how much the employer has control over the person.
Workers who refuse transfers May set their own hours, use their own equipment and do not get paid for the work is likely to be entrepreneurs. Conversely, those who do not have the discretion to accept or refuse to perform tasks at work on a fixed schedule, equipment and supplies provided by the company and are paid a salary of employees is very probable.
If a company in May are entitled to more rights for materials created by employees, to call someone an employee fails to do so. As the Supreme Court of Canada said, “is the true nature of the relationship that counts, contrary to the label of the relationship between the parties.
In the example Web site developer, an entrepreneur who developed the web site retain the copyright on the content or graphics created for the site (assuming there is no contract between them under intellectual property rights). The developer can use the copyright of other websites for other clients. In summary, a company in May to invest a large sum of money for a contractor to build something from the company, only to discover that the entrepreneur can transform and sell the same equipment from a competitor.
Even if there was no contract signed, a company has certain rights to the materials. At a minimum, the company may limit the use of materials created by the developer. However, if the company wanted to sell or let someone else use it, then become a real problem because society has no right to do so. It is therefore essential to establish the ownership and control of copyrighted material, before the work begins.
First establish tenure
It is common for one side in a conflict to misunderstand their rights. Often in such cases, a company can turn to vinegar and becoming a victim. When an entire part of the legal reality, it is often a shock. Imagine a Vice President and having to explain to the CEO of your company that is not actually the copyright to your own site. Or imagine that the entrepreneur who sells software for learning to no longer own the rights to it.
If there is no contract, the contract or is insufficient, it is almost inevitable that at some point conflict arises as to who owns the copyright. In the absence of a written agreement, the company took a big risk that could cost him his copyright. There is very little means of these disputes. Either one or the other holds the copyright. Accordingly, these conflicts are often unpleasant and may lead to litigation, which can be both risky and costly.
There are also hidden costs that arose in May from the loss of employment. For example, if a programmer knows that the company is owned by asserting a software written by the programmer, the programmer can refuse to do more work on the project, which could render the software useless. But they can learn from other entrepreneurs in the dispute and may be suspected of dealing with society.
Fortunately, these and many other potential problems can be avoided. In fact, there is little reason for there ever to be a problem. In short, any company before hiring an employee or contractor to create works of author, the company must insist on the establishment of an agreement written in plain language that will create and own the rights author of that work. Where the parties are making efforts to set clear boundaries before work begins, we can avoid acrimony.
Similarly, if you do not have contracts with their employees or contractors governing copyright, the best time to address them before the start of any dispute. If appropriate treatment and legal advice, you can extinguish fires before they start.
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